Southwestern Pennsylvania leads the state when it comes to new shale gas wells drilled

February 7, 2019

Ethan Lott
Pittsburgh Business Times

Southwestern Pennsylvania continued to grow its share of shale gas drilling in 2018, gaining 401 wells since Jan. 1, 2018.

The 11-county region — Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland — accounted for half of the 795 new wells added in Pennsylvania last year.

Statewide, Susquehanna County added 180 wells last year, tops in the state. Greene county was next, with 116 and Washington County added 105 wells. Washington and Greene counties made up three-quarters of the new wells drilled in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The most active operator for new wells in the ground in 2018 was Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., which operated entirely in Susquehanna County last year, adding 122 wells in the northeastern county. EQT Corp., the region's most-active driller, has more than 1,300 wells in the region, and added 98 last year. Range Resources Corp. added 80 wells, to push its local well total to almost 1,250. Chevron Corp. and CNX Resources Corp. also added more than 50 wells in southwestern Pennsylvania last year.